Or they scared the shit out of him, but I definitely consider the point you made one of the most likely possibilities. Like I asked during the campaign. What if the MSM Trump hate was in reality designed to promote him, overdoing it on purpose. They know how low the Trust is in the ancient MSM outlets. Maybe they also used it as a test to measure which medium was the most powerful propaganda tool. Internet vs ancient MSM.
Never underestimate the enemy, and so many people do.
Good point. The challenge is to read their chess game.
I pondered the whole election thing too. Did they intend for Trump to win all along as the white knight arriving to slay the dragon and drain the swamp (with MSM Trump hate helping that cause) -- or was he meant to make the 'outsider' internet movement look so slap happy and ridiculous, that MSM sheeple would double down on their devotion to Hillary and the usual deep state cronies. It does become a matter of reading alt media vs MSM support.
Trump is perhaps just one of them, so they planned to win either way. He perhaps represents a faction of the NWO deep state wanting to slow up the plan a bit and be more cautious, so he is only part outsider. Or if he is more of a real outsider perhaps as you say they are just scaring the crap out of him to keep him in line.
I figure, they may have controlled the whole process wanting Trump to win by a hair (so to speak) -- so they could orchestrate the drama of a divided society with violent chaotic protests and demonstrations on either side.
Alt media Trump will then be painted as a racist sexist zany bumbler unable to stop the conflict. But he will build up martial law in answer to the chaos. He will crow over the success of the swelling markets, taking responsibility for the economy.
Then they will pop the market bubble making it look like Trump's fault. Then perhaps a war and fake natural disaster (or the real arrival of Planet X) to really plunge the US into chaos with the deep state shadow government rising up to take full control with the final springing of the trap --- FEMA camp time (with Texas as a warm up.)
Ha ha, who knows? But things are crazy enough that this crazy scenario seems possible.